Runnin' Out of Moonlight
by Thee Rated R Redneck
Summary: "Three guys as best friends, a bunch of wolves,a depressed chick and a hothead who has an obsession with you. it gets worse." Twilight from the point of view of a Quilieute girl.
1. Preface

PREFACE

If you would have asked me a year go how I thought my life would change, I would have listed off a bunch of regular, mundane changes. You know, the kind of changes that people say they'll make on New Year's Eve, but that never happen.

I probably would have said that I and my mother would have had a better relationship. That I had gotten into my first fist fight with some girl terrorizing me or Jess. That I lost weight, or that my looks changed. That I stopped criticizing myself so much, and finally looked through the crap and saw the world as half full, instead of half empty.

There are some changes, though, that I would have laughed at if you would have brought them up.

Like, for example, the fact that I was going to have so many near death experiences, that people would think that I _tried_ to put myself in harm's way.

If you would have also told me that someone that I had never spoken more than a few words to suddenly had an interest in me that was so intense and so deep that he could make my head spin, I wouldn't have believed you. If you would have told me that said someone and my best friends would hate each other so intensely that it resorted to physical violence, I probably wouldn't have believed you either.

But, hey.

There were a lot of unbelievable things that happened this past year. That's part of the reason that I'm writing this; to keep myself from going insane with thinking that they never happened. I'm going to let you in on my little world, and all of the craziness within.

Try to keep up.

_Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change- this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress._

Bruce Barton


	2. Life

1. Life

Warm. Sunny. Bright.

All things to describe a place that _isn't_ La Push, Washington. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade this place for anything.

Jacob, all excited because some girl with the last name Swan is coming into town. I think she's the Forks Police Chief's daughter. Quil, being an idiot and hitting on any chick that walks by our table. And finally, Embry, quietly scanning the diner's menu over.

You may be wondering who I am.

Well, faithful reader, I'll let you in on my identity.

My name is Cassie Rivera. I'm sixteen, and I'm a junior in La Push High. I live on the La Push Quileute reservation in Washington. It's not the stereotypical Indian reservation; it's like any small town. Apart from the fact that we're all of Quileute heritance and that we have some of the weirdest tribal legends, ever.

Unlike other teens on the rez, I'm half white, half Quileute and Puerto Rican. In some ways, that makes me less of a Quileute, and seen differently. Does it bother me?

No.

I'm short, coming in at five feet six inches. I'm a little chubby, I admit, but I'm more curvy than most. My style is flippant. I mostly wear jeans with a tank top, t-shirt or sweatshirt. I have wavy dark brown hair, big brown eyes, a button nose and pouty lips.

Now, you might be wondering why I'm hanging out with three fifteen year old boys.

That is because my Mom is best friends with Lana Ateara, and was best friends with Sarah Black. Although, she'd never met Embry's Mom. But, Embry, Jacob and Quil are a package deal. You never see one without the others.

Me and Jacob used to hang out together when we were tiny, in his back yard, and make forts together. Then, one day, Quil started coming over, too. A few weeks later, Embry joined in too. Our little group formed at the age of seven and six. There had been little fights here and there, but we had always stuck with each other, through thick and thin. When Sarah died, me, Embry and Quil never left Jake's side. We stayed at his house for the whole week. Back then, when I was ten and the guys were nine, it didn't matter that three were boys and the other was a girl. We were all best friends.

One of my most memorable moments was with Quil. I was fourteen and he was thirteen, but he was twice my size already. I had just gone through a breakup, and though I didn't _love_ the guy, it still hurt. When he wanted me back, Quil threw one punch and decked him in the nose. He was suspended for three days, and I vowed that I'd return the favor. Although I never _had_ to, it was a long-standing promise.

Some people thought that it was a little weird. Why was a junior hanging out with a bunch of sophomores? Why was some girl hanging out with three guys? Rumors swirled, but I didn't care. Nothing bothered me anymore. I had been so used to fighting rumors and stigma, and I didn't care anymore.

Quil interrupted my thoughts by pinching my arm. I rubbed the spot where he pinched, giving him a hard glare. "Ow, you dick!"

"Order! We're all starving." I rolled my eyes and looked down at the menu, still in my hands. I pursed my lips, eyes scanning over the words a few times. I looked up at our waitress, who was currently smacking her gum extremely loud.

"I'll have a hamburger and french fries with a Pepsi." She gave a nod and said something about later.

I turned my attention back to the boys. Jacob was fiddling with his hair, trying to come up with a way to get it out of his face. I rolled my eyes and pulled my hair from its ponytail, handing him my hair tie. He gave me a grin. "Thanks, you're a lifesaver."

Jacob had the longest hair, out of all of us. That was because he hadn't had it cut since Sarah's death. She used to cut all of our hair. Eventually, Embry, Quil and I had moved onto other barbers and hairdressers. Jacob just couldn't, and none of us criticized or questioned him for it.

Quil's hair was third longest, after mine and Jacob. His was just past his shoulders, the way he liked it. Sometimes he would put it in a low ponytail, or have me braid it, but today it was freefalling.

Embry's hair was the shortest. His came to his chin, because he had gotten it cut a week or two before. He was lucky, though, that his part was straight down the middle and his hair fell equally to both sides so he didn't have a weird Justin Beiber complex.

I heard loud, boisterous laughing. I turned and pulled a face, seeing Paul Lahote, Jared Cameron and their jock friends. It was Paul's donkey laugh, the most annoying laugh I had ever heard. Really, you should hear it. It honestly sounds like a donkey.

Paul's dark eyes locked with mine and his narrowed. "What're you looking at, half breed?" He sneered, making the other people at his table laugh loudly. I felt Quil move beside me, but Jacob stuck a hand out.

"You're asshole face, Lahote. How about you take yourself and donkey laugh out there?"

See, donkey laugh!

All of the humor was gone, and the air got tense. Paul shut his mouth, before he smirked. "I'd ask you to take this outside, but your _Daddy's _would come get me."

Now Jacob was the one moving to get up. He didn't take kindly to anyone talking about his family, and the obvious reference to Billy and Old Quil being in the council was just going to piss him off more.

I stood, catching Jacob's arm. I nodded to Quil and Embry, who stood. We all made our way out of the restaurant. Jacob's eyes narrowed and he took in a shaky breath.

"I hate that guy." He growled.

"I think we all do, buddy." Quil said, patting his back. He was serious. Quil had an awesome talent of knowing when to be serious, and when to joke around. I, unfortunately, had not been blessed with that talent. Yes, I am that person to make an inappropriate joke way too soon.

"Come on, let's go do something." I said, trying to change the subject. I ran my fingers through my hair. "Cliff diving?"

"I'm in." Embry said, with a grin and a nod.

"Me too." Quil nodded. He looked at the taller boy. "Jake?"

"Nah," Jacob squeezed his eyes shut, before he opened them again. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm gonna go work on the truck. I'll see you guys later."

I sighed and shook my head. Jake had been obsessing over that truck, trying to make it perfect for new girl. It looked like he wasn't about to stop.

I looked over at Embry and Quil. "Let's go, boys."


	3. I Want My Best friend Back

2. I Want My Best Friend Back

Half a year had passed since the incident with Paul. Six months can create a long time for a lot of things to happen. Everything with me, though, had pretty much stayed the same.

The guys, especially Jake, were another story.

The guys had been getting taller, and gaining more muscle, I noticed. Jake felt like he grew _feet_. Not an inch, not a foot, but _feet_. He and Embry were, also, a lot easier to piss off and to make angry. Quil, though he had grown a few inches, stayed pretty much the same. Jake was…well, he seemed almost bipolar. It was starting to scare me.

It didn't help that he was suddenly _obsessed _with the Swan girl. I honestly didn't know why. From what I'd heard, she was just a regular pale-face. It was annoying.

I had lost a lot of people in my life. My Father had been shot and killed in war; my Grandfather had died two years previous to lung cancer, and my Grandmother was living in Florida, with my aunt. I did _not_ want to lose Jacob.

Apparently, though, losing a best friend made two teenage boys think that you're in love with said best friend. This _was_ not the case.

Embry, Quil and I were sitting in Quil's backyard. The guys were sparring, and I was sitting on a log, watching.

"I think," Quil panted, ducking from a fist via Embry. "That you're in love with Jakey."

"I agree." Embry growled, moving back and holding his hands up. He glanced over at me. "I mean, he has a crush on Bella. What's the big deal?"

"The big deal," I rolled my eyes when Quil took his legs out from under him. "Is that Jake's gonna get his heart broken. This girl, from what he's told me, does _not_ have any interest in him! The only reason that she paid him any attention in the first place was because she wanted to know about the legends."

"So!" Quil grinned over at me as Embry tapped out of a headlock. They both stood. "Jake, for once, got his flirt on." He walked over, slinging a sweaty arm around my shoulders, making my lip twist up in disgust. "Listen, Cass, you know as well as I do that Jake hasn't even had a crush before. Well 'cept for Leah Clearwater, but we know how well that turned out."

Jake had been in _love_ with Leah. He had gone over to their house for play dates with Seth, despite his objections, and Leah had been their babysitter. He was obsessed with her, until she snapped at him. From thereon after, Leah Clearwater was the antichrist.

"It pisses me off that he blows us off for her." I said, sighing roughly. The guys didn't understand. I suppose that that's what I get for hanging out with guys.

The next night was…well, it was pretty much a disaster. We were all at Jacob's house. It was nine o'clock, and way too late for hanging out with Bella. Jacob was lounging in his moon chair, I was sitting comfy on his bed, and Quil and Embry were on the floor, watching their characters play in _Call of Duety._

"Jake," I kicked Embry and Quil's backs lightly, making their characters die. They grumbled cusses at me, which made me roll my eyes. I looked over at Jacob, whose eyebrow was raised in a curious expression. "We need to talk to you."

"About what?" Jacob asked, slowly, taking a sip of his _Monster_ Energy drink. I had told him a billion times that they were no good for him, but he simply replied with telling me that my _Pepsi _consumption wasn't much better.

"Look, we think-"

"_Cassie_ thinks." Quil interrupted, holding a finger up.

"_I _think that you've been neglecting us, a little." Jacob's brows furrowed. "You're spending all of your time with that _Swan_ chick, and we barely see you any more-"

"What?" Jacob asked, sitting up straighter. "You have _got_ to be kidding me."

"I'm being serious, Jake."

"That's complete bullshit." He quipped, growling. "Bella was really hurt by her ex boyfriend, and she just needs someone to talk to-"

"She's using you!" I said, throwing my hands up. "You can't even see it, but she's using you as a fuckin' distraction!"

"You're just fucking jealous because you can't even get a guy to talk to you!"

Jaws dropped. Hurt filled my eyes at the sentence, and I swallowed thickly. He went to apologize, but I held a hand up, effectively cutting him off.

"Fuck you, Jacob." My voice broke halfway through his name. I stood and straightened my shirt out, standing slowly. I made my way out the door, quickly. I, not looking back, jumped into my Mom's car, and took off in a cloud of dust.

_Let It Rain_ by Jason Michael Carroll was playing, which just added to my shitty mood.

Jacob knew that I had guy problems. Hell, all of fucking _La Push_ knew that I had guy problems. After my last boyfriend, right after the incident with Paul, I hadn't even gotten a guy to talk to me.

Apparently, because Paul had gotten everyone to think that I came _onto him_, and that's why Jacob stood up for me. My friend from Forks, Jess, had told him that she was going to cut his balls off and put them in a shredder. I had been a little more than proud of meek Jess for that one.

It wasn't fair. _This_ is what he was turning into. I didn't know what it was a result of. Was it because of that Swan girl? No, no _one_ person could have changed such a sweet guy into such an inconsiderate bitch.

Was it something to do with me? As far as I knew, I didn't do anything to him. The guys didn't either. We barely saw him anymore, how _could_ we do anything to him?

Was it his Dad? No, Billy would _never_ do anything to hurt Jacob. Jacob was Billy's whole world, and he loved Jacob more than anything. The day that Billy Black did anything to deliberately hurt Jake, was the day that a donkey won the Kentucky Derby. It could never happen.

The only other thing was the weirdness that was happening in La Push. Jared Cameron, the one that had been hanging out with Douchebag McGee, had suddenly started hanging out with Sam Uley. I didn't really _know_ the guy, but he seemed okay. The elders of the tribe were in love with him. They treated him like he was Jesus.

Maybe something happened with Sam Uley? He stared at Embry and Jake, and freaked them out. The stare he gave them seemed like he knew something that they didn't. It seemed like he was _expecting_ something from them. Often times, I would get all protective. The last time this had happened had been two days ago.

"_What the hell are you looking at?" I yelled, from across the parking lot. My hands were firmly on my hips and I was standing in front of my boys. Quil, oddly enough, had cancelled plans to get ice cream to study, or Old Quil was going to kill him when he failed Spanish._

_Jared's eyes narrowed at me and his body began to __**shake**_**.**___Even blur at the edges a bit. I thought that he was convulsing._

_Sam placed a hand on the younger's arm and the shaking ceased. It looked like they shared another word or two, and then they disappeared into the woods._

_I was thanked by two big bear hugs._

Maybe something had to do with that weird stare Sam had, and the change in Jared. I had initially thought that it was drugs, but what if it was more than that?

One thing was for certain; I was going to find out.

When I got out of my car and went into my house, I thanked God that it rained all of the time in La Push, so that my Mom didn't ask me about the tears rolling down my cheeks.

**A/N: So, you guys may be wondering why I published the story, and posted the first two first chapter all in one day.**

**Well, this is not the first time this story has been on FF. I posted it last summer, and it wasn't very popular. So I tweaked it a little, and here we are!**

**Also, I have written a bunch of the upcoming chapters already. If I get at **_**least**_** three reviews, I'll post the next chapter by the next day. If not, you'll have to wait a week for each update.**

**I'll give every person a response in the next chapter if you review.(:**


	4. Toby Keith Apologies

3. Toby Keith Apologies

I had gotten so many phone calls that my phone wouldn't let me do anything without a reminder popping up that my voicemail box was full. One thousand texts from each Quil, Embry and Jacob, each begging to text back or something along those lines. I hadn't listened to the voicemails, nor answered any of the texts.

In any other situation, I would have simply gotten tired of them annoying the hell out of me and answered. But not now.

Not just the fact that Jacob had thrown the one thing he knew would hurt me into my face, but that neither Quil or Embry had said anything in my defense, led me to the conclusion that the three needed to be taught a lesson. They needed to know that even though I was basically 'one of the guys', I was still a girl. I still had feelings. And I could still run off and never talk to them again at a moments notice.

It had been three days since that night where I'd driven home bawling my eyes out. I was currently sitting on the floor of my room, listening to Toby Keith and doing my homework for my Freshman Composition college level class. I was wearing camouflage pajama pants, and a pink 'Smurf' shirt that was three sizes too big. My newly died jet-black hair was thrown up into a ponytail, and since I had run out of my contacts, I had my glasses on.

It was a Friday night. For whatever reason, Quil, Jacob and Embry hadn't been in school since the Wednesday that we had all gotten into that fight. Old Quil had come in and told us all that they had 'Council Business' to take care of. He had flashed me a smile and gave me a hug, mumbling how much of an idiot the boys were before he left.

So, that had meant that this was the longest time apart we'd all spent since my family vacation to Atlanta. And even still, I'd get at least one phonecall a day from each of them telling me about what happened while I was gone.

It was an odd feeling. It felt like something was missing. Like I had a part of me that was gone, at least for that while. But at the same time, it was a freeing feeling. Maybe the boys and I needed time apart more often.

All of the sudden, I heard music outside my window. Not too odd, considering that we lived next to a couple guys that went to college off the rez, but the _type _of music was _extremely_ odd.

It was Toby Keith. For a moment, I thought I was imagining it or something, because I'm ninety percent sure that my family is the only one on the rez that listens to country, but I couldn't mistake it if I tried

"_Just a girl born in Dixie_

_Washed in the blood and raised on the banks of the Mississippi mud…"_

My all time favorite Toby Keith song, _God Love Her._ And only three people in the world knew that.

I poked my head out of my window and saw the three offending idiots.

There stood Quil, Embry and Jacob, an old-boom box on the ground between them. Next to Quil's feet, there sat an outline of a bottle, and I knew exactly what they had given me. They were all giving me the puppy dog face. I rolled my eyes and sighed, giving a soft grin.

"Fine. I accept your apologies. But only because you brought me Toby Keith and Pepsi."

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, guys, but I promise the next one will be gigantic. It's from the point of view of a character that we haven't seen much of yet.**

**Big thanks to malfoysmirks and Riverlily176 for reviewing!**


	5. How You Remind Me

4. How You Remind Me

Smoke rolled off my lips after I took a long drag. A smirk crawled across my face. I snubbed the cigarette out and took a long swig of my Jack Daniels as I leaned back on the leather upholstery of my car. _The Diary of Jane_ by Breaking Benjamin was playing, and I nodded along to the guitar in the beginning.

I got out of my car and shoved my hands into my back pockets. Jared approached, holding his hand out for a fist bump which I returned.

"Hey, Jare." I said. "How've you been?"

Jared had been out of school for almost a month now. It bothered me. Not because I had no one else to talk to or anything like that, but because Jared had never missed that much school. He wasn't a nerd or some shit, but he just had no reason to miss that much school. Plus, Jared and I had been best friends since we bonded on the rez's pewee football team in second grade.

I had noticed, though, that Jared was getting angrier and angrier. He had gone from being a happy, easy going guy to someone who was pissed at the world 24/7.

So, when he texted me and asked me to meet in the clearing where he'd had his recent bonfire party, I agreed.

Maybe that wasn't a good idea.

"I've been okay." He looked tired. Not the good 'I've been out all night and had the best time' kind of tired, the kind of stressed out tired that reminded me a lot of someone else.

Sam Uley.

Sam was sort of a savior on the rez. Everyone on the council adored him. Personally, I thought he was a drug dealer and they just loved him for drumming up some 'business' and getting some money for the council.

But lately, he'd been following Jared and me around. It started a month or two before Jared started being absent from school. Everywhere we'd go, besides school or at home, he was there. I was starting to think he was trying to recruit us for his drug dealing gang, but then he just stopped.

The day before Jared just stopped coming to school

Then, a week or two later, there he was. Except this time, it was really starting to freak me out, because I was alone.

What if Jared had missed so much school, looked so tired, been so angry, because he was dealing? What if he was using the drugs? That would explain the mood changes, it would explain why he was angry all of the time.

I snapped out of my thoughts to Jared reaching out to touch my forehead. I jumped away, like any red-blooded, straight male would.

"What the hell, man?" I grunted out, my brows furrowing into a confused and slightly freaked out expression.

Adding to the odd and awkward situation, he mumbled under his breath. My eyes shot wide open as I heard a wolf howl. Jared turned his head toward the woods just outside of the clearing and gave a nod.

"Come on, man." I grabbed his arm and gave a tug, jerking back when I realized how hot his skin was. "The wolves are out, let's get out of here."

"Remember when you had the biggest crush on Alexis Sweet and I told her?" My eyes narrowed slightly, and for a reason unknown, a felt a little anger bubble up within me. "And, remember when you brought Lexa Jones to Prom and I fucked her in the back of our limo? Remember when I fucked your cousin from out of town and you walked in on us?"

I felt myself begin to vibrate with anger. My chest began to heave as he rattled off more and more memories of times when he'd betrayed my trust, memories that _pissed me off._

All of the sudden, I exploded. My clothes ripped off of my body audibly and I felt myself shift, change, into something that I wasn't.

**A/N: Alright, did ya'll like this? I hope you did. This was Paul's point of view, if you didn't catch it. He's going to be in the story more often now.**

**Review, follow, or favorite!**

**Thank you to crazy1person2you3been4warned, Chocolate is Kryptonite and Chiara246 for reviewing the last chapter.(:**


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